can remember. Even when times were good, Bermudians were reluctant to pay politicians very much, no matter how great their respect for some individual politicians. Much of this goes back to the days before party politics when people served as individuals for a token. There is a continuing public assumption that politicians should serve. There is a second assumption that many of Bermuda's politicians are already rich but as nearly as anyone can tell that seems to be less true today than it once was.

The fact remains that the suggestion from a majority report of a House of Assembly committee that politicians should receive substantial pay increases was a surprise. The second surprise was that of the four politicians agreeing to raise their own salaries, three were members of the Progressive Labour Party. Salaries would be increased by nearly 28 percent. The increases would add some $500,000 a year to the public's bill for Parliamentary pay.

One Government Cabinet Minister, Dr. Clarence Terceira, who chaired the committee, agreed with the proposed increases. He was joined in agreement by PLP members Miss Jennifer Smith, Mr. Reginald Burrows and Mr. Walter Lister.

Two UBP members, Government Whip Mr. John Barritt and Cabinet Minister the Hon. Pamela Gordon, disagreed, saying Bermuda could not afford any more than a 10 percent increase, and Dr. David Dyer recommended about half the increase.

That means the committee was split four in favour of a 28 percent increase and three against.

Elected members of Parliament should be among the first to recognise that many Bermudians have gone without salary increases during the recession and are not going to be given huge increases in order to catch up. Some private sector people have kept their jobs by working short time. People have been jobless.

It has not been easy for a good number of people who simply cannot award themselves a 28 percent pay raise to make things better.

It may be that the UBP members of the committee who did not agree the huge increase remembered the public reaction to large salaries and pensions recommended by Dr. Clarence James when he was Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier.

Clearly this is a very strange time to be putting forward a 28 percent salary increase, no matter how long Parliamentarians have waited for a raise. The people think that their representatives are very much part time and that is true as far as actual time spent in Parliament is concerned. Where backbenchers are concerned, the public does not see the hours spent in committees nor does it count the time spent on constituency matters. Also, the public does not seem to count the fact that some cabinet ministers are full time.

However, the system is such that Members of Parliament in Bermuda are allowed to hold a basic job or to run their business or professional practice. Most of them do so but it is interesting to note that those who do not have a basic job seem unable to hold one. Their profession has become politics and their basic income is derived from politics. We do not think Bermudians want that for any number of reasons. When politics is the main source of income people tend to "keep up with the Joneses'' at public expense, one way or another.